Biography

Alisa Moldavanova's research investigates organizational sustainability in the context of public service organizations, the role of inter-organizational networks and other forms of social connectedness in enabling sustainable organizations, as well as how nonprofits and other public service organizations foster sustainable development in their local communities. She is also is conducting research on the role of civil society and nonprofit sector organizations in advancing democracy. Her research has been funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, Paul A. Volcker Endowment for Public Service Research - American Political Science Association, and Ford Fund (CommunityCorps Program).

Alisa Moldavanova is the author of two books, including the Overlooked Pillar: Making a Case for Cultural Sustainability (2024, SUNY Press), and the 2018 co-edited volume, The Nonprofit Sector in Eastern Europe, Russia, and Central Asia: Civil Society Advances and Challenges, an inaugural book in the nonprofit research series by Brill Publishers. Her work has also been published in the Journal of Urban Affairs, The American Review of Public Administration, Public Management Review, Administration and Society, Public Administration and Development, Journal of Public Affairs Education, International Journal of Public Administration, and International Journal of Sustainability Policy and Practice.

In 2018, she co-curated a special issue on social institutions and sustainability in Critical Sociology. In 2023, she co-curated a special issue on civil society, nonprofit service providers, and democratization in Public Administration and Development​​.

Alisa Moldavanova currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA) and chairs the Section on Public Administration Research (American Society for Public Administration, ASPA). From 2021 to 2023, she served on the Leadership Council of the Nonprofit Management Education Section of the Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration (NASPAA).​

Before joining the University of Delaware in 2022, Moldavanova was an Associate Professor of Public Administration and Nonprofit Management and Coordinator of the Graduate Certificate in Nonprofit Management in the Department of Political Science at Wayne State University (Detroit, Michigan).​

Degrees

• PhD, Honors, Public Administration, University of Kansas, (2013)
• MPA, University of Kansas, (2009)
• PhD, Psychology, Institute of Psychology of the National Pedagogy Academy of Ukraine, (2007)
• BS, summa cum laude, Psychology, Institute of Mathematics, Economics, and Mechanics, Odesa National Mechnikov University (2000)
   

Awards

2024 Visionary Award, Women's Network of Delaware, American Council on Education (ACE).

2020 University President's Award for Excellence in Teaching, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI.

​​2014 Wilder School Award for Exemplary Scholarship in Social Equity and Public Policy Analysis co-awarded by the National Academy of Public Administration and the L. Douglas Wilder School of Government, Virginia Commonwealth University for the co-authored article, “Sustainability, intergenerational social equity, and the socially responsible organization" (with H. George Frederickson and Edward Stazyk).​​

2013 Outstanding Teaching Award, School of Public Affairs and Administration, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS.

2009 Best Graduate Student Paper in Public Administration, Studying Corruption in Modern Cities: Lessons from American Urban Reform, School of Public Affairs and Administration, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS.

2007 Edmund Muskie Graduate Fellowship, Public Administration (funded by the U.S. Department of State).​​

Affliations

Senior Fellow, Institute for Public Administration, Joseph R. Biden, Jr. School of Public Policy & Administration

Faculty Fellow, Center for Organization Research and Design, Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ.